Who is the new managing director of the MBF?
You might have met him during his first month as managing director of the Maritime Battery Forum, but for those who haven’t, this is some more information about Syb ten Cate Hoedemaker.
Syb’s first introduction to the combination of batteries and ships was already in high school, where he designed and built a remote controlled scale model for a solar boat race. This sparked his interest in the technology behind the propulsion of ships and he decided to study marine engineering at the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands. He obtained his Master’s degree on the topic of “Battery aging in full electric ships” at Damen Shipyards, combining his interest in batteries and ships. Syb developed an aging model for multiple types of Lithium-ion batteries and investigated the effect on battery lifetime for different types of operational profiles for full electric ferries and tugboats.
After finishing university, Syb joined the R&D department at Damen Shipyards as a Development Engineer for tugs and workboats. Not long after starting in this position he became part of the development team for the battery powered RSD 2513-E, a battery powered harbour tug, for the Port of Auckland in New Zealand. The role Syb played in the development of this vessel resulted in him obtaining a new position within the R&D department at Damen, as the battery specialist in the E&A Research team. In his new position Syb focused on assisting all divisions within Damen to select and design the battery systems for different types of electric and hybrid vessels. He developed a “Select Your Battery” (SYB) tool to make a pre-selection of the most interesting battery systems by calculating the costs, weight and volume for all maritime battery systems currently on the market, based on a small set of vessel requirements.
Additionally, Syb was part of the research consortium working on the SEABAT project. An EU funded research project with the main goal to develop a Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS). The HESS concept is to combine both high energy and high power battery cells in one battery system to create a more flexible system which can be optimized for vessels with different types of operational requirements. Syb played an important role in defining the different types of operational requirements for electric vessels and analysed 30 different marine certified battery systems, comparing them on multiple aspects of their performance.
Syb has been joining the WATTS UP conference for the last 4 years and you might recognize him from his presentation during the 2020 edition of the conference. Being no stranger to the MBF he knew what he wanted when he saw that the MBF was looking for a new managing director. “Being able to help even more people solve their battery related issues is a dream come true”, he said. The goal from the MBF board to make the Forum larger and more international is exactly the right step to take in order to increase the global uptake of maritime battery systems. Working together on a global scale is key to solve the issues related to the energy transition in the maritime sector.
After the first conversations with MBF members it is clear that the members are very positive about the role that the MBF plays in the industry as well as the organized events. Therefore it is Syb’s goal to not change too much about the ongoing activities. Besides increasing the number of members and setting up the MBF hubs for the Americas and Asia there are two things he wants to focus on, as additional services to the members. First of all the MBF will focus more on setting up initiatives for collaborations and research projects between members as well as non-members to solve ongoing issues related to maritime batteries. The UK Shore Power initiative is just the beginning of many MBF initiatives to come. Secondly, Syb wants to provide more one-on-one assistance to all MBF members. The MBF should be the first contact point for its members when they have a question regarding maritime battery systems, or topics related to this. Organizing custom battery trainings for MBF members is going to be part of this one-on-one approach.
Syb can be reached on director@maritimebatteryforum.com, don’t hesitate to reach out to him with any of your questions, he is at your disposal.
